Page 72 - Inbound Logistics | April 2017 | Digital Issue

move off to be charged on their own,”
Schultz says. If the workload surges, the
system might command a robot to get
just a top-off, rather than a full charge,
so it can return to work quickly.
“We also have the ability to moni-
tor the status of the robots remotely,”
Schultz says. If a problem appears—for
instance, if a slowdown in the facili-
ty’s network infrastructure affects the
robots—often Swisslog can put a solu-
tion in place before the customer even
knows there’s anything wrong.

Lift Truck Network
Collecting data from sensors to mon-
itor activities in real time is valuable, of
course. But the power of IoT doesn’t lie
just in tracking a collection of discrete
units, such as lift trucks in a warehouse.
Robots with transport and lifting functionality operate Swisslog’s AutoStore system. “It’s the interaction between the sen-
Equipped with a lift, robots retrieve the required bins from the AutoStore grid and present
them at integrated picking stations, led by a controls and location management system. sors, the server, and other servers that
bring the whole Internet of Things to
Robots on the Grid orders from an order management sys- bear,” says Neil O’Connell, senior vice
At Radwell International in tem or WMS, and transmits it to the president, technology, innovation and
Willingboro, N.J., the “things” that robots to let them know which prod- product development at TotalTrax in
communicate over the Internet include ucts they’ll be picking in the coming Newport, Del. “The network effect is
34 robots that swarm across a three- hours. The robots move those products greater than any one thing inside it.”
dimensional storage grid, putting away into more accessible positions before The TotalTrax SX/VX Advanced
and picking product. The AutoStore the busy period arrives. Telematics Platform uses sensors on
robotic system comes from Swisslog, a Schultz compares this process to lift trucks to capture data on factors
Swiss firm with U.S. headquarters for Waze, a trip-routing service that uses such as motion, distance and direction
its warehouse distribution systems in GPS data from thousands of vehicles to traveled, impacts, raising and lower-
Newport News, Va. determine real-time traffic conditions ing of the forklift, and whether there’s
Radwell International sells new and and help drivers avoid congestion. “It’s a pallet on the lift. That data crosses
surplus equipment used in manufactur- a fully integrated, real-time use of sen- a wireless network to a server, which
ing plants and facilities maintenance. sors to alter the destiny of what you’re uses the data in applications for fleet
It implemented AutoStore in 2016 to doing,” he says. management, labor management, and
gain high-density storage and fast pick- “Before AutoStore, if I wanted to reor- maintenance management.
ing, says Brian Janusz, global program ganize the warehouse physically, I had “It gets exciting when that data is
manager at Radwell. AutoStore keeps to spend months, and lots of manpower, accumulated and can either trigger
product in bins, which the robots place to bring products up front into the opti- actions, predict actions, or prevent con-
at various locations within the grid, mum position,” Janusz says. AutoStore sequences,” O’Connell says.
sharing that information with Radwell’s does this work continuously. For instance, by collecting data every
warehouse management system (WMS). Because sensors on the robots send time a truck collides with an object on
One of AutoStore’s big benefits is the data to Radwell’s information systems, the warehouse floor, the system iden-
way it continuously repositions the bins. AutoStore also tells the company how tifies hazardous intersections. Then,
“Over time, the fast movers rise to the often robots touch each bin. “That tracking a truck in motion around the
top of the system, and the slow moving provides immense benefit by letting warehouse, the system alerts the driver
products sink to the bottom,” Janusz us know which items are selling and to any upcoming hazards, via a monitor
says. That shortens the time required to which are not,” Janusz says. “We can mounted on the truck.
pick high-demand products. then stock accordingly.” Users also can configure the sys-
Swisslog calls that strategy “prebub- Data passing between the robots and tem to issue alarms. For example, if a
bling,” says A.K. Schultz, the company’s the system also help to keep AutoStore truck hits an object with substantial
vice president, e-commerce and retail. up and running. “The robots know force, it might send a text or e-mail to
AutoStore receives data on customer when they need a charge, and then they a supervisor.

70 Inbound Logistics • April 2017